Trumpcare isn't popular. But universal healthcare would be

June 28, 2017

Media Outlet: The Guardian

Lee Drutman's recent voter study was referenced in an article from The Guardianthat explored an international take on Trump's version of healthcare reform versus universal healthcare.

Beyond it being the right thing to do, fighting to extend healthcare to all Americans may also be the politically prudent one. Democrats who cast doubt on that goal seem to not get that message, and will continue losing because of it.Support for single-payer has grown steadily. About 33% of respondents to a Pew Research Center poll released last week supported such a program outright, while 60% said it was the responsibility of the federal government to provide healthcare coverage to all Americans. Medicare – the program a universal healthcare system would look to expand to all Americans – is popular with Americans across the aisle, wooing not just progressives but also Tea Party activists.This isn’t some anomaly about healthcare, either: the austerity politics embodied in Trumpcare simply aren’t popular, and expansive social programs are. A recent study from Lee Drutman at the New America Foundation finds that very few Americans at all – Republican or Democratic – support the kind of rightwing economic policies that undergird Trumpcare. When it comes to support for draconian cuts, the Republican party and its ultra-wealthy donors stand alone.